Gangabayala Pachi Mamidikaya Pappu/ Purslane Dal with Raw Mango Twist

Picture: Purslane leaves, Gangabayala Pachi Mamidikaya Pappu, Pickled Raw Mango Pulp.

A special thanks to Krishna Preethi Chalavadhi from "My World Of Recipes" who has shared this amazing combo recipe with me, thanks Preethi................. I should thank other too who inquired about this leaf in my e.mail, by then I didn't know about it, but I am glad I found this leafy vege, if you haven't tasted it yet then scroll down to read......

Ingredients:

Toor Dal/ Kandi Pappu - 1 rice cup

Onion - 1 no. small (chopped into chunks)

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Keep this in pressure cooker bowl, to that add 2 and 1/2 rice cups of water.

Gangabayala aaku/ Purslane leaves - 1 bunch (use leaves only, wash and chop roughly)

Pickled Raw Mango Pulp or Raw Mango - 3 tbsp or 1 no. (wash and chop into pieces)

Keep these seperately in pressure cooker bowl, to that add 1/2 rice cup water. Now keep these two bowls in pressure cooker and keep the weight on and cook until 5 whistles or until toor dal is mushy.

For Seasoning:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 4 no. (split in half)

Curryleaves - few sprigs

Fenugreek powder - a pinch

Garlic - 2 cloves (smashed lightly)

Hing/ Asafoetida - a pinch

Proceed:

1) Heat oil in a non-stick kadai, once heated do seasoning in the order given above.

2) After seasoning is finished, add first bowl of cooked leaves and secondly mashed and cooked toor dal, mix well. Bring it to boil once and switch off. Check for seasoning, normally if we are using pickled raw mango pulp, it always has lots of salt, so if needed add accordingly, if you are using fresh mango then add salt to taste. Serve.

Serve with Ghee on top, Plain white Rice, any fried dish, Yoghurt and Poppadums

on side.

Tip:

you can add green chilles too, while pressure cooking the dal as per your taste and garnish with coriander leaves if you feel like, I didn't do any of these, but still tasted excellent.

Pickled Raw Mango Pulp:

This was given to me from dear friend of mine Swapna Billa, her mom did the pickling stuff. The only ingredients where grated raw mango (peel the raw mango, grate this, the water which comes with it throw away by leaving little juice is enough), to that add turmeric and lots of salt, keep in glass jar (no sun-drying needed, just like mixing mango pickle but with out any masalas or chilli powder) looks like above. This will store for months in fridge can be used for dal dishes and for doing Mango Pulihora. I would recommend you get it from India and tastes just like real mango no yucky bottled stuff, can be used when out of season.

Note:

Do Dal with Mango required amount, do not cook more and eat the next day, it tastes yucky. Some how it looses it's tastes. Fresh is the best for this stuff.

Translation:

Gangabayala/ Gangapayala aaku = Purslane leaves

Purslane:

is a member of the Portulaca family, a fleshy decorative plant with small bright flowers which grows wild, from Greece right across to China. It is a very ancient plant and was known to the ancient Egyptians. Purslane can be enjoyed both raw and cooked.

Appearance & Flavor Purslane has fat, succulent stems that are often tinged with red and small, fleshy green leaves. It has small yellow flowers. The texture is somewhat sticky and chewy, like that of okra, and it's flavor, sometimes described as having a sweet-sour taste, is pleasant. Choosing & Storing Look for bunches where the stems are firm and not wilted. Refrigerate the vegetables in a jar with the stem ends standing in 1 in (2 1/2 cm) of cold water. Store for 1 - days. Kept this way, the purslane remains fresh for 2 - 3 days, although the vegetable should be used as soon as possible because the plant wilts quickly. Preparing To prepare, cut off the root end and cut the stems together with their leaves into 2 -3 in (5 - 8 cm) lengths. Nutritional & Medicinal Properties Purslane is not just one of the few plants to contain omega 3 fatty acids - which is believed to help combat high cholesterol levels - it has the highest amount of fatty acid compared to other plants. It is also rich in beta - carotene, vitamin C and iron. In addition, it is believed to be a diuretic. Culinary Uses Purslane can be eaten either raw or blanched with a dip or added to soups. It is also good in stews, mixed with spices and freshly grated coconut or briefly stir-fried with garlic and lightly seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil. (by Wendy Hutton, A Cook's Guide to Asian Vegetables)

More in Wikipedia............

© 2009 by Rajani Rayudu